Читать книгу Medicare For Dummies - Barry Patricia, Patricia Barry - Страница 78

You’re required to pay higher premiums for Part B and Part D services if your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI), as shown on your latest federal tax return, say 2019, is greater than $87,000 (if you’re a single person) or $174,000 (if you’re married, living together, and filing joint returns).

That statement, in a nutshell, is an accurate answer to the question of liability. But to understand whether the surcharge may affect you, you have to examine the wording more closely:

 First, consider the phrase as shown on your latest federal tax return. The last tax return you filed showed the income you received in the previous year. So that year’s income is what counts in determining whether you pay the surcharge next year. That’s right: The surcharge for any one year is calculated on the income you received two years earlier. For example, whether you pay surcharges on your 2020 premiums is calculated on income you had in 2018, as declared on the tax returns you filed in 2019.

 Now, look at that phrase modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) — IRS jargon that only an accountant could love. What on earth does it mean? What it doesn’t mean is your total income. Your total (gross) income is all the money you receive from any source. Your adjusted gross income (AGI) is the amount on which you can be taxed after allowed deductions are taken out. MAGI is the amount left after certain deductions that were excluded from the AGI, such as tax-exempt interest and student loan deductions, are added back in. It’s a complicated calculation, but the real point here is that in many cases the MAGI is much less than full income.

Obviously, some people’s incomes change a lot in two years — especially those who have retired or lost their jobs during that period. If you’re in that situation or a few other specific circumstances, you aren’t liable for the surcharge and can take action to avoid paying it. I explain this process in the later section “Getting the surcharges waived.”

In the following sections, I dig deeper into some situations that may affect whether you pay higher premiums.